Mysterious planet, our nearest neighbor is Venus. Poems are composed about her, because her name came from the name of the goddess of love herself! The hottest planet of the solar system has been controlling the minds of people for thousands of years. However, no matter how much we know about it, there are fewer questions about the planet. This celestial body promises a lot of miracles and amazing puzzles.
Often a person is interested in what is the hottest and coldest planet in the solar system. One of them, the one that has the highest temperatures, will be discussed below.
Appearance
The hottest planet in the solar system is easily recognizable in the night sky. It is easy to recognize, unlike the yellowish light of stars, the reflected light of Venus is much brighter and has a white color. Like Mercury, this planet does not move far away from the Sun. During elongation, it is only 48 degrees from the star. Like Mercury, it has evening and morning visibility. In ancient times, it was even believed that different stars were visible in the sky. By brightness at night, the hottest planet in the solar system is in third place.
Characteristic and Orbit
Venus is located closer to us than other planets - only at a distance of 40 to 259 million km (depending on orbital progression). On average, it moves around the sun at a speed of 35 km / s. It travels all the way around the luminary for 224.7 Earth days, while it rotates around its own axis in 243 days. Given that the planet’s rotation is opposite to orbiting, the Venusian day lasts 116.8 of our 24-hour intervals. That is, day and night on this planet stretch for 58.4 Earth days.
We have already answered the question: "which planet is the hottest?" Now we turn to the values of the main indicators. The density of Venus is almost equal to that of the Earth - it is only 0.815 M. Moreover, its radius is completely close to our planet - 0.949 from the radius of the Earth. It was difficult to measure, because the planet is hiding behind the clouds. However, this was possible due to radar.
For the first time, it was possible to observe the change in the visible phase of the disk in 1610, when Galileo invented the telescope. Phases change similar to the moon. Lomonosov, observing the passage of Venus through the solar disk, found a thin rim around it. Thus the atmosphere was open. The hottest planet in the solar system also has one of the most powerful atmospheres: its surface pressure is 90 atmospheres. The bottom of the canyon Diana boasts a larger figure - up to 119. The high temperature at the surface of the planet is due to the greenhouse effect.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere of the planet is capable of transmitting radiation from the sun. However, not completely, but only in the form of radiation scattered many times. Clouds reflect most of the radiation, and only less than a quarter of it penetrates to the surface. The greenhouse effect is inherent in many planets, however, only on Venus the average temperature near the surface is +400 degrees. In this case, the maximum known temperature is +480 degrees.
Most of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide. Its share is 96.5%. Another 3% is nitrogen. The remaining half percent consists of inert gases, water, oxygen, hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride. It was previously believed that dense clouds protect the surface from the Sun, so the planet is always dark. However, it has now been proven that its daytime side is lit up in much the same way as our planet on a rainy day.
Structure
The hottest planet in the solar system has a yellow-green sky. From the surface and up to 50 kilometers high, a slight haze stretches. Up to 70 km, there are clouds consisting of the smallest drops of sulfuric acid. At this altitude, in the equator region, severe hurricanes do not stop, the speed of which is 100 km / h. Even winds of 300 km / h are recorded.
Despite the fact that Venus is the closest planet to us, it is not possible to see its surface due to extremely dense clouds. Research has to rely on radars and interplanetary stations. It used to be that oceans cover the entire surface.
In 1970, the lander was able to get more information about the planet than in all previous years, although it worked for only 23 minutes. It collapsed due to extremely unfavorable conditions. So we managed to find out the temperature of the planet, pressure at the surface, determine the composition of the atmosphere. It turned out that the density of rocks on the planet's surface is 2.7 g / cm³, which roughly corresponds to basalts. In addition, it became known that half of the soil is silica, the remainder is magnesium oxide and aluminum alum.
Blue rays do not penetrate the surface, so all the photos taken have an orange tint. Lava flows, scree of stones, rocky desert - all this suggests that tectonic activity does not stop to the present.
Map
In subsequent years, other stations learned enough to make it possible to create a map of Venus. Even managed to photograph almost the entire surface. Volcanoes were discovered, most of which are active, mountains, craters. The planet has two continents, each of which is smaller than Europe. Thanks to detailed information and photographs that convey an accurate picture of this world, no one has any doubts about which planet is the hottest.
Today, we know a lot about Venus. The main characteristics of this celestial body are given in this article. But most importantly, in the course of the discussion, we managed to answer the most important question. What is the hottest planet in the solar system? However, most likely humanity will have to learn even more, because our galactic neighbor is in no hurry to part with her secrets.